


Sentinel Wars

by myurbandream (jen_chan13)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types, The Sentinel
Genre: Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, M/M, Sentinel/Guide Bonding, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-10-01 04:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10180934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jen_chan13/pseuds/myurbandream
Summary: In a galaxy far, far away, humans may seem like the weak, weaponless primates of the universe, but once upon a time they had protection in the form of Sentinels, humans with enhanced senses who could warn of coming danger and protect their tribe.  Humanity has evolved beyond the need for Sentinels, but the gene still lives in the lineage of humans across the galaxy.  One such human is Jango Fett, who was chosen as the template for an army of clones in part because of his extra sensory abilities.The reaction of the clones' Sentinel genes to the Jedi who are chosen to lead them in battle is something nobody expected.





	1. First Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone is surprised.

When the war starts, Rex is in the unenviable position of not really fitting into any of the ideal duty placements for a clone soldier of the GAR. He’s a fully-manifested Sentinel, along with about 40% of his brothers, but he is neither able to operate fully on his own, like the command-track Sentinels do, nor synced with a partner to wake him up on the occasions when he does get lost in his senses, like the ground troopers and the specialized Sentinel teams.

It’s usually not too difficult for any of his nearby brothers to snap him out of his head, if he gets lost in a sound or a scent, but it would be easier if he’d found someone to sync with. Still, he’s careful with himself, as much as he can be. Zoning out too often or too deeply gets you culled, but Rex is stubborn. He’s not getting culled, and he’ll defy his own karking instincts to make sure of it. But that still leaves him with all his senses primed and no permanent partner to watch his back.

Rex’s batch had a fairly high manifest rate. Only one turned up null - not one of Moxy’s senses kicked into high gear during their isolation trip. Nineteen of his batch-mates had at least one sense expand, many of them two or three senses. Scent and taste are the most common pair, sight and hearing slightly less common but still fairly typical. Three of those brothers got the oddball touch sense heightened as well. And the other sixteen of them - Rex included - manifested as full Sentinels, with all five senses keyed in. The difference is that the other fifteen of them all found partners pretty quickly, either within their own batch or in other batches in gen-52. Just not Rex. He and his brothers might be identical on the surface, but they’re individuals in spirit, and Rex has plenty of friends but he never quite found a _partner_ that suited him. (He’d thought maybe Kook - but Kook and Backchat had been attached at the hip since decanting, and when Backchat manifested, those two were a done deal.)

So that leaves Rex alone, and uncomfortably adrift in the GAR.

When the dust settles after the Battle of Geonosis, Rex finds himself in place as the Captain of Torrent Company, one of the companies in the 501st Legion, part of the 7th Sky Corps. It’s a risky post for an un-synced Sentinel, and he wouldn’t have the position at all if his command aptitude scores weren’t so high (and if the previous Captain hadn’t been killed on Geonosis).

Being shipboard isn’t much to worry about - the white noise of the engines humming, the unsteady thrum of the deck plating under his boots, the regimented lighting and regular cleaning schedules all intentionally minimize the chances of any Sentinel zoning out, and that works in his favor. It’s when his boots are on the ground that he’s in danger, when he’s smelling foreign air for the first time and his instincts are telling him to stretch out and take in the lay of the land. That’s when Rex has to watch himself, and sometimes he wonders why his damn genes thought this was such a good idea in the first place. He could’ve stayed a null or a half-sensed clone and been a regular trooper, but no, genetic heritage won the karking lottery and now he has to fight his own kriffing senses as well as the damn Separatists.

Being a Sentinel is useful, though, there’s no denying it. In planetside battles Rex can stretch out his senses - carefully - and keep an eye on his troops from klicks away without his binoculars, or take reports from the recon units and advance scouts verbally without waiting for an encrypted signal to push through to his helmet comm. As the war lengthens from weeks to months, his control gets better with practice, refining his ability to use one sense to its limits and leave the rest of his attention on his immediate surroundings. Rex only zones out on a battlefield once, and Lieutenant Fiendish snaps him out of it quickly enough that Commander Skywalker doesn’t even notice.

It’s only a few scant weeks into the war when the first real problems start occurring. In hindsight, it’s not so surprising; until the war started and General Yoda came to claim them from Kamino, Rex and his brothers had only ever had each other, the Kaminoans, and their various instructors. They’ve been taught from birth to help each other with their senses - if a brother trips and falls, you help him back on his feet, and if he stares at the rush of water down the window for a bit too long, you help jolt him out of it. They never had anyone else; they never needed anyone else.

Well, now they’ve got someone else.

A lot of someones, actually: there are almost 1,400 Jedi Generals in command of the various regiments, legions, and corps of the GAR, not to mention their Padawan Commanders, or the dozens of Jedi that take charge of special scouting groups, the commando teams, and the various semi-permanent postings that crop up as the war gets into full swing. And with every engagement on a foreign world, the clones are meeting humans of other cultures, and meeting other sentient beings of hundreds of other species that they’ve never encountered before. The first time it happens shouldn’t be nearly as much of a surprise as it is, but-

Well. When a null clone syncs with one of the rare wild-grown human Sentinels of the galaxy, after spending a straight 58 hours covering each other’s backs through a street-level fire-fight in Chaleydonia during the Battle of Christophsis, and the Sentinel - an Alderaanian relief worker in Senator Organa’s cohort with a stubborn streak to rival any clone’s - insists publicly and loudly that her new partner be given a leave of absence from the GAR…

Yeah. That makes a splash in the newsvids.

It gets even worse when the Alderaanian Sentinel finds out about her new partner’s Creation Debt, along with the fact that clones don’t get leaves of absence because they’re ordnance, not people. That’s when all the brothers of the GAR find out that the Republic, as a collection of individuals, is a lot less unified about the facts of clone existence than they’d been led to believe. Alderaan in particular also has some pretty interesting beliefs about Sentinels and their partners - the partners get their own fancy title, called “Guides”, and they have legal rights with their Sentinel that Rex doesn’t really understand, other than that it looks a lot like a marriage from where he’s standing. The two of them - the Alderaanian Sentinel, Anaia Montuo, and the brother she synced to, Max - end up becoming the face of a lot of political discourse on the holonet that Rex keeps up with in his spare time.

Rex is faintly bemused when he hears about the slowly building public support in favor of giving all the clones full citizenship rights. He doesn’t really put much thought into it, though, because during that particular week he’s a bit busy learning how to do a Major’s job, since Major Strikeout got nailed by a lucky Sep’s missile three rotations ago. Word from Kamino is they won’t be getting a new Major for a while; Rex has been sharing the Major’s duties with two of the other Captains in the Battalion, and passing off some of it to his Lieutenants too. Their fourth captain, Captain Placer…. isn’t really up for much anymore, not since his partner got hit by the same missile that took out the Major. They’re probably gonna lose Placer too. He’s zoning out too often, and zoned Sentinels aren’t too good at ducking blaster fire.

Still, the citizenship thing takes up enough of the gossip mill that it’s a few months before Rex first hears whispers about the other new twist in the lives of the Sentinel clones. That being the fact that the Jedi are apparently pretty great empaths, which lends itself fairly well to helping a Sentinel out of a sense-trap, and soon it seems like every brother says he knows another brother who has a batchmate whose friend in another squad synced up with their Jedi General within minutes of meeting them.

The first time he hears that rumor, Rex shakes his head and dismisses the whole thing as a gross embellishment mixed with some pretty stupidly willful blindness. It doesn’t work like that, as every brother should know - syncing your senses to your partner’s biorhythms takes time, familiarity, and more importantly a hell of a lot of trust built up over the course of a close-contact relationship. It doesn’t just _happen_.

The next day Rex meets General Kenobi.

~

Kenobi is the Jedi General of the 7th Sky Corps, which means there are four ranks between him and Rex. By rights they should never have met at all, Rex muses to himself, when he finally has a quiet moment after all the drama is over with. Most multi-unit briefings are held via holoconference, and when the Jedi are involved the conversation is usually handled by Commander Skywalker and Senior Commander Harra, the brother in charge of the 501st Legion. During those briefings, Rex and the other officers stand in the back, out of range of the camera, unless they’re called on to report about their own battle group. So Rex has talked with General Kenobi via holo a few times during briefings, but he expected that to be the extent of their interactions.

Today, however, they’re taking a ten-man shuttle from the _Resolute_ to the _Negotiator_ for a face-to-face meeting, and for some reason Commander Skywalker remembered Rex’s name - his _name_ \- enough to ask for him to attend. More than 250 Captains in the whole of the 7th Sky Corps, 16 of them under Skywalker's direct command, and Rex got singled out.

Rex isn’t nervous about meeting General Kenobi. He knows Commander Skywalker well enough, has worked with him in the field several times, and if the Commander is anything like his Master, Rex isn’t going to have any problems there. He knows Kenobi’s second-in-command, too - Cody is only a few batches older than Rex, close enough that they’d occasionally crossed paths in training on Kamino when they were younger despite being a CT and CC in different cohorts. Two months before the war started, Rex beat Cody’s score in dual-wielded blasters by 3%. He’s looking forward to ribbing Cody about it again, if they get a minute of free time after the meeting is done.

No, what Rex is nervous about is the fact that he’s the only un-synced Sentinel of all the officers in the 7th Sky - he checked - and he’s been doing a Major’s job for the past few months without explicit permission. He’s probably in for a royal chewing out.

Needless to say, the briefing doesn’t go anything like Rex expected.  

At the time, he doesn’t even realize what’s happening. As the group of 501st officers approaches the briefing room, Rex starts taking subtle deep breaths to calm himself down… and it works. Kind of. He’s still nervous, but he takes in big lungfuls of the familiar scrubbed shipboard air, flavored with machine oil and blaster discharge and the combined scent trails of over 7,400 personnel, and somehow he feels just a little less worried about the distinct possibility of being demoted back down to Sergeant within the hour. It’s not a complete personality change, he’s still twitchy about it. He’s just… a bit calmer.

The briefing room is already dark, the holotable lit, and Rex shuffles to the side of the room with his brothers as Skywalker goes to the middle and clasps hands with General Kenobi. Rex catches his vision trying to zoom in on the pale blue shine of the holotable light where it gleams on General Kenobi’s auburn hair, and he stubbornly turns his head, pointing his gaze at the far wall. This is absolutely the worst possible time for a zone-out. He takes another big breath, noting a hint of warm steam in the air, carrying the scent of some kind of plant - tea? - lingering in the room- Rex shakes his head and makes himself focus as the briefing gets started.

Somehow, through the next hour of discussion Rex stays calm and focused, his nerves fading into a sort of peaceful attentiveness that he’s never felt before. The meeting is about a possible attack on Kamino itself in the near future, which makes every brother in the briefing room freeze for a second. Rex’s attention is pinned firmly to the Jedi at the holotable, and thankfully his gaze doesn’t wander without his permission again. Kenobi and Skywalker lay out the intelligence they’ve gathered so far and the next steps for the 7th Sky Corps in order to make sure Kamino is protected, and through it all Rex feels his heartbeat settle, his stance easing from the rigid posture he’d held ever since boarding the shuttle two hours before. Rex has always liked listening to Kenobi talk during holocomm briefings - his accent is fluid and his voice is frankly beautiful, although Rex keeps that opinion firmly to himself. Kenobi’s voice is somehow richer in person, though, and Rex is able to process the information from the briefing even while soaking up the sound of it.

After the briefing is done and the main lights come back up, Skywalker calls Rex and his fellow 501st officers over to the center of the room. And so Rex goes, exchanging nods with a few of the brothers he knows in the other battle groups - Captain Tiff was in the same officer training group as Rex, and he spots a Major whose name he never learned but who once shook him free of a zone-out during a live-fire exercise - the distinctive spider tattoo on his cheek is pretty memorable. Rex waits as Commander Skywalker introduces them one by one - Commander Trippit, then Major Birdsong, and on down the line, usually with a short comment to distinguish each of them.

(Rex hadn’t known Major Howler kept up a dancing hobby, and from the way the back of his brother’s neck is flushing, Howler is smart enough to realize that his secret is now gossip fodder for the entire GAR.)

“And this is Captain Rex,” Skywalker says, introducing General Kenobi, and Rex salutes sharply. “Rex has been standing in for Major Strikeout - remember that missile that hit our command post a couple months ago? We haven’t got an official replacement for the Battalion, but I don’t think we need someone new. Rex has been doing fine so far, I think he should take over command full-time.”

Rex almost chokes, and his shock must show on his face because Kenobi quirks a little smile at him and offers Rex his hand.

“Not what you were expecting, Captain?” Kenobi asks kindly, as Rex clasps hands with him. Rex feels warm skin and callouses, and-

...

...

Rex comes back to his senses, more or less, and he is honestly impressed to find that he’s still on his feet. General Kenobi is holding Rex’s hand firmly, bracing his opposite shoulder with the other hand, and looking very concerned. There’s at least three other hands on his back, holding him upright, which, okay, that’s nice, that explains why he hasn’t fallen over. Rex loves his brothers a lot. He stares at Kenobi’s face, the furrow of his brow and the pale pink of his lips and his bright aquamarine eyes; Rex thinks he could stare at those eyes for the rest of his life. Kenobi’s lips are moving, forming words, but Rex can’t hear anything except the soft lub-lub of someone’s heartbeat. His own heart - no, Kenobi’s heart. No, it’s both, actually. They’re beating in time.

Rex blinks, swallows, and suddenly his hearing comes back online, gracing him with the sound of one of the brothers behind him cursing quietly and vehemently.

“Kriff _me_ ,” Rex agrees. He swallows again to clear the gravel from his voice, and never takes his eyes off General Kenobi’s stunned face.

Apparently those rumors about instantaneous syncing with a Jedi are true.


	2. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Obi-Wan steps up, and Rex makes a decision.

Obi-Wan’s first coherent thought, when he realizes what's just happened, is indignance - Plo never said it felt like _this._  The Force is pushing at him, twining around him and Captain Rex, pulling them together in a manner not unlike the creation of a Force bond.  He feels awash in Rex’s emotions, drowning in his presence in the Force and hyper-aware of every point of contact between them.

At least Obi-Wan isn't the only one taken aback; Captain Rex joins one of the clones behind him in a slew of quiet cursing, and all of them are gathered close around the Captain, twitching and muttering and generally looking baffled at what just occurred.  Anakin is staring open-mouthed back and forth between them.

Obi-Wan tries to settle his racing heart and immediately realizes that he can’t, or at least not easily - he’s having a sympathetic reaction to Captain Rex’s carefully contained panic.  He reaches out a hand for a calming touch, at the same time easing serenity into the bond forming rapidly between them.  That idea backfires, however, the minute his fingertips touch Captain Rex’s bare wrist - skin contact creates a flare in the Force that's so bright he can actually see it with his eyes, not just his mind.  Obi-Wan immediately jerks his hand away, but not before Rex jumps at the sensation.  Both their heart rates soar a little higher.

“Did you _see that?”_ Anakin yelps.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan manages to reply, swallowing hard against the fluttering in his stomach and the way his heart is trying to leap up into his throat.  Captain Rex is obviously trying to calm down, but the clone is still radiating shock and unease in Obi-Wan’s mind.

He looks over the Captain’s shoulder, at the clones who have his back.  He doesn’t want to deprive the Captain of his support system - literally, in this case, since they’d kept Captain Rex from collapsing to the deck a few minutes ago - but the two of them need to have a conversation, and Obi-Wan would prefer it to be as private as possible.

A compromise, then.  “Gentlemen,” Obi-Wan tells the gathered clones around them, “I would appreciate a moment of privacy, if you would be so kind.  Anakin, Cody, please stay,” he adds, before anyone can start to protest.

Cody shoulders his way through the crowd to the Captain’s side and puts one hand on his elbow.  The other clones linger supportively around Rex for a moment before they step away, and the room slowly empties out.  Cody leans in, murmuring in the Captain’s ear, something too soft for Obi-Wan to hear - Sentinel-soft, and that is definitely going to take some getting used to.

Of course Obi-Wan had known it was possible for Jedi to bond with one of the Sentinel-clones, but somehow he never thought it would happen to _him_ , not now that they’re so many months into the war.  Plo had bonded with his second, Commander Wolffe, within half an hour of meeting the man, and then it was Quinlan, and Luminara, and then three Knights Obi-Wan was only passingly familiar with, and then somehow within the first few weeks they’d had several hundred Jedi suddenly acting as anchors for Sentinels under their command.

When it hadn’t immediately happened for Obi-Wan as well, he’d thought he was in the clear.  For Force’s sake, he’s spent the past couple months practically living in Cody’s pocket; if Cody wasn’t going to sync with him, why should he worry about the possibility from any of the other clone Sentinels?

Except apparently that was faulty thinking, because here they are.

“Is this what I think it is?”  Anakin asks as the last of the other clones leave the room.

Obi-Wan just nods, watching as Cody talks with Captain Rex.  They’re within arms’ reach of him and yet he can’t hear a word they’re saying.  He doesn’t want to intrude on their conversation, but he _does_ want to make sure the Captain is alright... if that’s even possible in these circumstances.

Cody is standing close, one hand on Rex’s back and the other gripping his elbow gently, his head tilted down, talking slowly and firmly, eyes on the Captain’s face.  He looks serious, but also calm and supportive.  Cody is like that with all the younger troopers under his command, acting as a protective older brother.  It’s a trait Obi-Wan has immense respect for.

The Captain hasn’t taken his eyes off Obi-Wan since their hands first touched, and Obi-Wan meets that golden gaze evenly, trying to remain impassive in the face of the Captain’s visible anxiety - hunched shoulders, teeth gnawing at his lower lip, eyes a bit wide even now, and his hands clenched into fists at his sides.  The clone’s emotions are shining like a beacon to Obi-Wan’s Force senses.

He tries again to reach Captain Rex empathically, sending a wave of calm through his own mind and down the bright, sparking trail of the bond that’s formed between them and then for good measure he radiates that feeling out around him, filling the whole room with a deliberate, meditative blanket of peace.  Obi-Wan forcefully slows his breathing, in defiance of his still-jumping heartbeat, holding Captain Rex’s eyes with his the entire time.  The Captain mutters something to Cody that makes the Commander glance at Obi-Wan with raised brows.  Cody gives him a curt nod of approval, still murmuring to his brother, too softly to be heard.   Captain Rex’s breathing slows to match Obi-Wan’s, and his heart stops pounding quite so madly in his chest.

“Better,” Cody pronounces at normal volume, looking between them.  He gives Obi-Wan a stern look.  “Although from now on it needs to be you talking him down.  You can’t help him from over there.”

“Of course,” Obi-Wan agrees, feeling the bite of shame at his own hesitance. Cody is right - he needs to be an anchor for the Captain, not just stand nearby like a nerf chewing cud while Cody does all the work.  He steps closer, reaching out with his hand again, and is gladdened when Captain Rex reaches back, touching their fingertips together.  There’s no blinding flash of Force-light this time, but instead a warm tingling that feels like bubbles under his skin.  Obi-Wan pulls his hand away slowly, rubbing his fingertips together and looking back up to the identical brown eyes of the two clones.

“I don’t know how to be a Sentinel’s Guide,” Obi-Wan tells them both plainly.  He knows the basics, from his anthropology classes as a Padawan, and he read the hastily-assembled packet of information about the clone Sentinels that went out in the first month of the war, when the bondings started happening by the dozens each day, but it’s obviously not enough to really understand how his life is going to change now.  “I know it’s a vital part of your existence, and I want to learn how to be what you need, Captain.  I’ll need your help, your advice - both of you,” he says, including Cody in the request.  “This is new territory for me, but you’ve lived with these abilities your whole lives.  Tell me what you need, and I’ll do my best to help you.”

“We’ll-”  Captain Rex stops, swallows, clears his throat.  “We’ll figure it out, sir.”

“What does this do to the command structure?” Anakin interjects, hovering at Obi-Wan’s side.  “Are you gonna have to separate from the 501st, Rex?

Obi-Wan has to fight the urge to curse out loud, even as he feels a spike of panic from Rex.  He hadn’t even thought that far ahead, but Anakin is right.  Captain Rex might be the only Sentinel-clone synced to a Jedi who is not immediately adjacent to him in the chain of command.  That complicates things immensely.

The Captain - Major, if Anakin is serious about promoting him - needs to be with Obi-Wan, but he also needs to be with his troopers.  If he’s that apt to a command role, it would be a waste to remove him, especially if there’s a position that needs filling and the Captain is qualified for it.  And it wouldn’t be right to make Captain Rex some kind of honorary Commander, or to jump him up to take someone else’s position in the 7th Sky - Obi-Wan refuses to replace good soldiers out of favoritism - but that leaves Rex with no purpose other than tagging along after Obi-Wan like a youngling at their parent’s workplace, on the off-chance that he might be displaced by his senses.

“Captain,” Obi-Wan ventures quietly, thinking through the problems as he speaks.  “How long since your senses manifested?”

“Five years and three- no, four months, sir,” Captain Rex answers promptly, letting none of his worry show in his voice or face.

“And you’ve not had any problems with your senses before now?”

The Captain looks away and bites his lip for a moment, and Obi-Wan feels an upswing in anxiety from him, but then he squares his shoulders and meets Obi-Wan’s eyes firmly.  “Not too much, sir.  I’ve zoned out a few times since the war started.  Only once during a live combat action.  Back on Kamino, a few times a month ever since I manifested, but it’s not hard for any brother to shake me out of it, sir.  I’ve been functioning just fine on my own.”

“Is that likely to change, given…”  Obi-Wan gestures vaguely.  “Given what’s just occurred?”

Captain Rex shrugs and looks to Cody, who shrugs back at him.  They have a silent conversation of minute facial expressions before turning back to face Obi-Wan.

“Normally I’d say no,” Captain Rex answers him.  “For two brothers- I mean, two clones synced together, there’s no physical damage or increased instability from being separated.  Being partnered together isn’t a… a constant need, it’s for the safety of the Sentinel during combat.  We’re war clones, sir.  In a fight we can’t afford to be stuck in our heads for even a few seconds, or we’re dead.  A partner is there to snap you out of it before you take a blaster bolt to the face.  Synced partners can rouse their Sentinel a lot faster than any other person, that’s all.  But for a clone and a Jedi...” the Captain trails off, frowning thoughtfully, and finally shakes his head.  “I don’t know for certain, sir.”

“Then what do we do, Rex?” Anakin asks, worrying at the clasps of the glove on his right arm.  “I don’t want to lose you as a Captain - or a Major - I mean, obviously, you’re doing great, I want to keep you - but I don’t want you to get killed because you don’t have a partner, either.”

“That’s your choice, Commander Skywalker.”

Cody opens his mouth with a scowl, but Obi-Wan beats him to it.  “Actually, Captain Rex, it’s _your_ choice.”

“I don’t get to decide what my post is, sir,” Rex protests, but it’s half-hearted.  Obi-Wan can see him thinking, working through the implications that Obi-Wan just considered himself.  It’s a messy problem, and Obi-Wan might have the final authority on the solution, but-

“I refuse to dictate your life any more than I already do.”  He holds Rex’s eyes, putting steel in his voice.  “If you want to stay on with the 501st, you can.  You’ll keep your promotion to Major, if you choose to accept it, along with any other commendations you earn.  It’s your risk to take, and your right to decide how you want to live your life.”

“And if I decide not to risk it?”

“Then I will find a place for you,” Obi-Wan says firmly, although he’s not remotely sure what that place might be.  Cody and Captain Rex both look skeptical, but the Captain nods his acceptance of that promise.  He chews at his bottom lip for a moment, considering.

“Do I have to decide right now, sirs?”

“No,” Anakin says forcefully, and Obi-Wan shakes his head in concurrence when the Captain looks to him as well.

“Decide now or later, it doesn’t matter, and whatever you decide doesn’t have to be permanent,” Obi-Wan promises.  “You can change your mind.  Stay with the 501st if you want, and if things change, I’ll always be happy to make a place for you.”

After another minute of deliberation, Obi-Wan can feel when Rex makes a decision - uncertainty coalesces into determination in his mind.  Rex takes a fortifying breath and looks between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

“I’d like to spend some time with you, General Kenobi, if that’s alright,” he says firmly, belying the hint of nerves Obi-Wan can still feel from him.  “I want to make sure I’m properly synced with you, and figure out the limits of what I can do.  After that… I’d like to return to the 501st.  If you can afford to lose me for a few days, Commander Skywalker?”

“I’ll keep your bunk reserved for you,” Anakin agrees, and then he grins.  “Actually, if you want to, you can pick a new one when you come back, because you’ll be a Major by then, at least if I have anything to say about it.”

Captain Rex manages a small smile at that.  “Thank you, Commander.”

“If that’s decided, we’d best go about our duties.”  Obi-Wan nods to Anakin.  “Padawan, take the rest of your men back to the _Resolute_ and we’ll coordinate our hyperspace route.  We need to check up on the outposts along the route to Kamino as well.  If the Separatists are ahead of us on the way to Kamino, we need to know about it.”

The four of them leave the briefing room, where Anakin goes left and collects the crowd of officers in blue-painted armor that are waiting in the corridor.  They watch but make no comment as Captain Rex follows Obi-Wan and Cody to the right, heading to the bridge of the _Negotiator._  Cody and Rex fall into step behind him, perfectly attuned the way all the Sentinel clones are, but Obi-Wan still feels the tug of Rex’s mind, catching his attention the way Cody never has.  The background hum of an empathic Force-bond is comforting in a way Obi-Wan doesn’t want to examine too closely.

He knows Sentinel-Guide bonds are lifelong, but still, he doesn’t dare let himself get used to it.  Obi-Wan has a bad habit of becoming too attached for his own good.  He doesn’t need another complication like that in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea where this story is going, and no idea if any more is forthcoming. Curious comments feed the plot bunnies, though, so if you want to ramble at me about this 'verse, leave me a comment here or send me an ask on tumblr @myurbandream, and maybe it'll spur on another chapter. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	3. Adjusting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magic Force bonds aside, the connection between a Sentinel and a Guide takes work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is 100% thanks to all the people who left lovely inquisitive comments and kept me thinking about what would happen next. You're all incorrigible.

Rex sticks close to Kenobi for the rest of that first duty shift. (And the following shift as well, because apparently Kenobi is a crazy person who works through his down-time and probably never sleeps. Now Rex knows where Commander Skywalker gets his bad habits from.)

Those twelve hours are the worst control Rex has ever had over his senses since he first manifested as a Sentinel. It takes every ounce of his self-control not to get lost in his head. All of his senses are clamoring for his attention, constantly focusing in on Kenobi’s scent, his voice and his breathing and the blood rushing in his veins, the shine of his eyes and the pale-on-pale tracery of scars on his hands. Barely an hour since he synced to Kenobi and Rex finds himself fighting the urge to tuck his nose under the fall of copper hair at the back of the Jedi’s neck and _lick-_

After that, Rex looks for the first opportunity to take Kenobi by the elbow and shove him into the nearest empty conference room.

“Captain, what-”

“Just-” Rex fumbles, putting both hands up to grip Kenobi by the shoulders. “Just hold still.”

He closes his eyes, finds the tang of disinfectant on the floor to anchor himself to reality, and lets go of his hearing. It's always been his strongest sense, and it's the one aggravating him the most right now. He keeps that sharp chemical scent at the forefront of his mind and allows the gentle thump of their echoing heartbeats to pull him under.

Finally free to wander, his brain starts cataloging: this is what Kenobi’s breathing sounds like, the beat of his heart and the rumble of his stomach. This is the sound of his clothes against his skin, the susurration of his tunics as he shifts position, the brush of hair along his collar...

~

Obi-Wan isn't entirely sure what Rex is doing, but there's an extremely strange floaty feeling coming from his new connection to the Captain’s mind. His emotions have gone blank and soft, quieter even than a dreaming mind produces - it's almost like the clone is sedated or unconscious. Obi-Wan has only felt that kind of emptiness from people in medical beds.

He doesn't like it.

Obi-Wan reaches out across the empathic bond and nudges at the Captain’s mind, trying to wake him up.

Rex jumps like he's been doused in cold water. His eyes fly open and his hands clamp onto Obi-Wan’s shoulders. A string of Mando'a expletives leaves his mouth, and: “Don't _do_ that! Uh, sorry, sir.”

“No, sorry, I'm sorry,” Obi-Wan apologizes, waving his hands uselessly in the space between them. “I didn't mean to startle you. Your mind went away and it was… uncomfortable.”

“Kriff,” the Captain swears, letting go of Obi-Wan's arms to rub his hands over his face. “You felt that? How do you _feel-_ Nevermind, don't answer that right now. I want to know, but... Later.”

“Alright,” Obi-Wan nods, filing a mental note to discuss their empathic connection after his shift ends tonight. “Then what are you doing right now?”

“I'm trying to finish syncing with you,” Rex explains, with not a little frustration. “Whatever happened at the briefing, it's not usually like that, at least not with us clones. It takes time to sync to someone, and I think, despite… _this_ ,” he waves one hand between them, “whatever this is, it isn't complete. I still need to finish the process.”

“Alright.” Obi-Wan mentally files that away as well, one more question to ask Plo or Quinlan or another Jedi about, as soon as he gets the chance. “What does that mean for right now? In layman’s terms, please.”

“I need to deliberately get stuck on you, at least once with each of my senses.” Rex glances at the chrono on his wrist guard. “It's gonna take time, and I know you have work to do, but we've got to at least start the process or I'm at risk of an uncontrolled zone-out.”

Obi-Wan frowns thoughtfully. “It's better to initiate it yourself in a controlled manner than put it off until it happens on its own?”

“You make it sound like a forest fire,” Rex says, smiling faintly. “But yes, that's basically it. I need to focus one sense on a specific, present object, something to keep me anchored, and then let another sense fixate on whatever it wants - which at the moment is you. That’s how syncing works. The whole point is that I’m automatically tuned into you, so that if I get lost somewhere else I can find my way back to you.”

Obi-Wan manages not to twitch, but it's a near thing. That sounds… intimate. He gives himself a mental shake and forcefully refocuses on the conversation.

“What I did just now, to wake you up,” he says, thinking of how Rex had startled free from that floating blankness at his mental poke. “Would that be helpful or harmful to do again?”

Rex pauses, giving the question due thought. “It definitely pulled me out of focus,” he muses, biting his lip for a moment. “If I'm zoned out unintentionally, it would be the fastest and most effective way to anchor a Sentinel that I've ever heard of. If I space out during a battle, that could literally save my life. But if I'm using my senses deliberately, you could break my concentration just when it's critically needed.”

“So it depends on the situation. If I'm not there with you, or at least on comms with you, I won't be able to tell whether you're dangerously distracted or deliberately focusing on something.” Now that _is_ problematic, incredibly so. Obi-Wan rubs at his beard absently. He can't see an easy solution. It's a worry for later tonight, though.

“For right now, then, what should I do? What do you need?”

“Right now I need to work on syncing with you, properly, not that… instantaneous thing that happened during the briefing. I need to get lost in my senses, one at a time, with you as the focal point.” Rex explains. His brows furrow as he pauses, thinking. “But... since you can apparently pull me out of my head at the first sign of rain, maybe I can speed up the process a little. I think...” He falls silent, staring into the middle distance for a moment, and Obi-Wan feels his mind ticking away lightning-fast across their bond.

“Yeah, I think it'll work,” Rex decides. “I'm going to do all five senses at once. I can't anchor myself that way, so you’ll have to pull me out of it like you did just now, but it means I don't have to take the time to do each sense individually. I’ll go under all at once, and you give it a count of five minutes or so, and then snap me out of it.”

“Are you sure that's safe?” Obi-Wan doesn't like how risky this idea sounds. It seems a lot like the Sentinel equivalent of learning to free-fall by jumping off the North Tower at the Temple.

Obi-Wan hated that class.

“Not a clue.” Rex grins with all his teeth, and it reminds Obi-Wan very much of Cody’s predatory smirk right as they closed in on the Separatist forces on Christophsis. “But honestly, to do this properly we’d need at least forty-eight hours in seclusion, and we don't have time for that. I'm improvising.”

“No wonder Anakin likes you,” Obi-Wan sighs. “Alright. I'm setting a timer. Five minutes exactly.” He taps through the functions on his wrist comm, setting it to beep at him when the allotted time is up. Then he silences his comm calls, just in case. If anyone really needs him, they can hunt him down physically using his comm’s location tracker. “Ready when you are.”

Counter to his earlier brashness, Rex suddenly looks hesitant. Obi-Wan almost doesn’t want to ask, but: “Is there a problem, Captain?”

“Something you should, uh... I should point out that taste is one of the five human senses. Sir.”

Obi-Wan’s eyes dart down to Rex’s mouth entirely without his permission. “Ah. Yes. What, um…?”

“Just your hand,” Rex blurts, twitching before visibly holding himself still. “If I could…”

Obi-Wan removes one of his gloves and offers up his empty hand, trying to stay relaxed and pliant. Rex cups both his palms under the back of Obi-Wan's hand and steps closer, a little to the side, rotating Obi-Wan’s arm at the elbow so he can bring Obi-Wan’s bare wrist up to his face, pressing his nose to the skin at the edge of Obi-Wan's tunic sleeve.

Rex inhales deeply, his eyes fluttering half-shut and locking with Obi-Wan’s gaze, holding them together. Obi-Wan tamps down _hard_ on his instinctive reaction to that expression.

“Yeah, that'll work,” Rex murmurs, a deep bass rumble appearing in his voice. His breath is warm on Obi-Wan’s skin, making the hairs on his arm stand up under his sleeve. “Start your timer.”

Then Rex presses his open mouth to Obi-Wan’s wrist, the tip of his tongue brushing skin, and Obi-Wan’s mind goes temporarily blank right along with Rex’s.

Obi-Wan fumbles for the button on his wrist comm. This is going to be the longest five minutes of his life.

~

After a long moment of existence without time, only sensation, Rex surfaces up from his senses like a bubble floating to the top of a pool of water - more gently than he can ever remember doing before. Normally, getting pulled out of a sense-trap is a shock to the system, breaking his concentration as forcefully as possible. But this feels like… like waking up on a rare rest day as a kid, with no alarms, just the quiet return of awareness of the world outside his mind.

Rex blinks and closes his mouth, lips dragging over the pale skin of Kenobi’s wrist, and realises just then that they haven't moved at all. He lets go of Kenobi’s hand and drops his eyes in the same moment, stepping back and swallowing down his embarrassment.

He feels about a thousand times better, more focused, more in control of his senses. A little embarrassment is worth it.

“Thanks,” Rex murmurs.

“Did that help?” Kenobi asks, watching him carefully.

Rex nods. “What did you do to wake me up? It was different than the first time.”

“Waking up is a good metaphor,” Kenobi muses. “When you focus on your senses to that extent, it feels like you’re unconscious, or lightly dreaming. So I… I just pushed you towards consciousness, like waking up, just… gently.” He gives Rex a hopeful look. “Was that better?”

“For a deliberate zone-out, absolutely.”

“Then I'll be sure to do so again in the future for similar circumstances.”

They stare at each other for a moment, silently evaluating the experience. Almost as one, they nod and turn together for the door of the conference room.

As they step into the corridor again, Kenobi puts a hand on Rex’s arm, holding him still for a moment.

“If you need another moment, to center like that again, or just a moment of quiet, or anything else,” Kenobi waves his other hand expansively. “Don't let it fester. I could feel your frustration building. Just tell me what you need and I'll make it happen. Alright?”

“Yes sir,” Rex says.

Kenobi raises one eyebrow eloquently.

“Yes, Guide Kenobi.” Rex tips his own eyebrow right back. If Kenobi isn’t in charge of him when it comes to Sentinel matters, then Rex can call the man whatever the hell he wants.

“Better, I suppose.” Kenobi sighs with elaborate exasperation, but he's just barely smiling as he turns and walks away down the corridor. The Jedi has a good sabacc face, and another brother might not notice, but Rex is synced to him now, at least partly. He can see the minute flickers of Kenobi’s pupils, the twitch of muscles in his cheeks. He knows what a suppressed smile looks like.

Being a bonded Sentinel isn't anything remotely like Rex thought it would be. He’s not sure how it's going to work out - the connection between them is only hours old - but it's been interesting so far. Good, really, even with the constant surprises. He's looking forward to finding out where it goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and questions are great fodder for the plot bunnies. If you want to read more, let me know what you're thinking and it might spark another chapter!


	4. Getting Settled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rex has a Very Long Day, Obi-Wan misses the obvious, and they both avoid discussing one specific issue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm alive! I had a short burst of free time lately, and of my various WIPs, this story was closest to having another chapter ready to post. I hammered this out over the course of yesterday and today, un-beta'd and a bit choppy, but it's progress so I'm posting it. Hope y'all enjoy!

The next two days are… an experience.

Rex has to pull Kenobi aside a total of four times on the first day to settle his senses. It works beautifully every time, and leaves Rex feeling high as a skybird when all the accumulated tension drains out of his body in the span of a few minutes. Kenobi’s schedule is hectic at best, but every time, he drops whatever he’s doing when Rex tips an eyebrow at him in a silent request. Rex doesn’t even have to say a word - Kenobi reads him with remarkable ease. It must be that link Kenobi was talking about, sensing what Rex’s mind feels like. The fourth time, Rex doesn’t even have to signal him before Kenobi is excusing himself from the briefing on the hyperdrive repairs, and they find a quiet corner to re-sync without having to discuss it. Rex still isn’t quite sure how he feels about that level of connection, but he has to admit, it’s damned useful.

Their first major stumble is at the end of that first day, and Rex doesn’t even realize it’s a problem because he’s so Sith-damned tired. He follows Kenobi back to his quarters in a haze of exhaustion, and Kenobi doesn’t say anything about his continued presence until they’re both standing at the hatch of the General’s berth.

“Captain?” Kenobi asks, glancing from the closed hatch to Rex, one eyebrow raised.

“...yes?” Rex suppresses a yawn. It’s been a long, _long_ day, and he dearly wants to climb into a rack and turn off his brain for a few hours. Stupid karking instincts won’t let him, but a guy can dream. He blinks at Kenobi, who blinks back at him for a long minute.

“I never asked anyone to assign you quarters,” Kenobi says, with an air of realization. “I suppose I thought Cody-”

“What?” Rex asks stupidly. “Um, what quarters?”

Kenobi stares at him.

Oh - of course. Obviously Kenobi only has one sleeping rack in his quarters. And it won’t be the double rack designed for partnered Sentinels. Stupid.

“Don’t worry about a rack for me, I can take the floor until we figure something out.” Rex clenches his teeth around another yawn and breathes deeply through his nose, automatically dialling down his senses until all he can smell is the standard disinfectant in the hallway.

“I suppose we have more to discuss than I realized,” Kenobi murmurs, touching the control panel to open the hatch. “Please come in, Captain.”

Rex nods and follows Kenobi inside. It’s a typical layout for a high-ranked officer’s quarters, and Kenobi waves Rex to sit down at the small built-in table while he clatters around in the tiny personal kitchenette.

Rex settles into the left-hand bench and props his chin in his hands, feeling the scrape of stubble across his palms. He closes his eyes and inhales - the air is permeated with all the smells he’s come to associate with his Guide, plants and cloth and paper and the scents from his soap, lingering on Kenobi’s skin and in his hair. He drifts in the scent for a while, somewhere between sleeping and zoned out.

A soft touch on his shoulder makes itself known, along with steam wafting up from the table carrying the scent of more plants. Rex blinks awake to find Kenobi standing beside him and a cup of something hot set in front of him.

“Sorry- I’m up, sorry,” he grunts, wrapping his hands around the drink. Warm. “Mmm, thanks.”

“It’s no trouble,” Kenobi assures him, sitting down across from Rex with his own mug in hand. “I find a cup of tea helps me wind down after a long day, especially when there’s things to talk about.”

“Talking, right.” Rex inhales the steam from his cup, cataloguing scents, and then looks up to meet Kenobi’s calm gaze. “What are we talking about?”

“Well, sleeping arrangements for one.” Kenobi smiles a bit, taking the awkwardness out of the statement. “Also the empathic connection between us, and anything you might have noted today that you’d like to discuss. Communication is going to be essential, Captain. It won’t be easy, but all good relationships take work.”

Rex nods, biting the inside of his lip. He knows the taste of arousal on Kenobi’s skin. Too soon for that discussion.

“The first one is simple enough. I’m probably not going to sleep tonight so much as zone in on you for the next… five hours,” Rex calculates, pulling up his chrono. Little gods, Kenobi’s schedule is a mess. “So I need to rack up wherever you’re sleeping. In the same room. Actually, I’ll probably have to do that most nights that we’re around each other. As a general rule.” Ha. General rule for Generals. Damn, he’s tired.

Kenobi blinks at him, and then takes a big gulp of his tea. “Alright. We can do that.”

Rex breathes deeply, trying to stay awake. He takes a sip of his own tea, and that helps, feeling the heat of the steam on his face and concentrating on the new flavors over his tongue. “That empathic connection you mentioned, then. Let’s go over that.”

Kenobi nods, and starts talking.

Rex is surprised at how comfortable he is with the idea that Kenobi can feel what he’s feeling, and get a sense of his intentions. Kenobi promises he isn’t able to read Rex’s mind, which is probably true, given some of the… rather inappropriate thoughts Rex has had over the course of the day. Thank all the little gods for that.

It ought to make him uncomfortable, that connection, but the more they discuss it the more Rex finds he doesn’t mind. He can’t actually feel anything - it’s all on Kenobi’s end - and he can’t deny the benefits. Something as simple as waking up from a zone-out is already a completely new experience.

Sharing his mind with a Jedi doesn’t seem so bad. On the other hand, sharing space with his Jedi is _incredibly_ awkward.

After they hash out the whole Jedi mind link, Rex ‘goes to sleep’ (in other words, he falls into a full sensory zone-out) on a bedroll on the floor in Kenobi’s quarters, with one hand wrapped around Kenobi’s wrist where it dangles over the side of the bunk. A little over four hours later, he wakes up in the General’s bed, curled up around his touchstone, nose buried in the fall of copper hair at the back of Kenobi’s neck… with their bodies pressed together all the way down to their knees.

Kenobi very politely shifts away as Rex unwinds his limbs from their death grip around Kenobi’s smaller body, and both of them studiously ignore Rex’s morning erection as they climb out of the bunk. Rex is mortified - and then he realizes Kenobi can probably feel his embarrassment. Still. He should say something.

“Sorry,” Rex finally croaks. He rubs a hand over his face, too uncomfortable to actually look at the other man.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kenobi replies, his normally smooth voice rough with sleep. He steps sideways around Rex - the cabin isn’t exactly spacious - and shuts himself into the tiny attached ‘fresher.

Rex leans back against the bulkhead beside the bunk and thunks his head into the wall. Instantaneous connections be damned - their relationship is careening along far ahead of his ability to cope with things, and if yesterday was a typical schedule for Kenobi, they aren’t going to have nearly as much time to discuss things as they should.

It hasn’t even been 24 hours since they synced. That’s way too soon to talk about… certain aspects.

~

Despite the awkward start to the morning, Day Two is a vast improvement. Rex is doing a hell of a lot better in terms of his need to zone on General Kenobi. Four hours and change of being locked onto his Guide has done wonders for his control, even if he’s kriffing exhausted from lack of sleep. Sound and scent are completely tamped down; touch and vision are manageable. Rex is still having trouble with his sense of taste, but it’s always been his weakest sense, and the easiest to control. He lets that urge ride on the input from his nose and manages to keep it together enough that he feels comfortable leaving Kenobi’s side for half of their (first) shift.

Rex spends a few hours at a workstation in the officers’ lounge, catching up on his datafiles and messages from the 501st, and then he indulges in some time on the firing range, blasting targets to bits. He’s working on a cross-draw for his two favorite blasters, and it’s taking a bit more work than he’d thought to get the hang of it and keep his accuracy up; the practice time is a treat, and it helps him relax a little. After the range, he cleans up himself and his pistols, grabs lunch in the officers’ mess, and happily congratulates himself on not having a single moment of sensory distraction in the whole of first shift. He sent a few messages to Kenobi throughout the day cycle, letting the General know as he moved around the ship, but that’s it - no contact, no loss of control. The morning is a complete success.

That doesn’t stop Cody from checking on him, of course.

“I’m fine, I promise, stop hovering,” Rex grunts subvocally, when Cody deliberately catches his eye from the other side of the command deck.

“You haven’t even _seen_ hovering,” Cody murmurs. Rex thinks it’s frankly unfair how Cody can be so quiet and still sound so threatening.

“I’m not a newly-woken shiny,” he hisses back, taking the long way around to the middle of the room. “I’ve been active for four years and I don’t need a minder.” One of the troopers at the comms station overhears them - he glances up at Cody, then at Rex, eyebrow up in a silent question. Rex shakes his head, and the trooper goes back to listening for Separatist signals.

Rex walks up behind Kenobi, as silently as a trooper can in armor, so as not to disrupt the discussion between the General and Admiral Yularen. They’re still trying to track down Grievous, making frequent brief stops on their way to Kamino in hopes of collecting further intel on the enemy’s latest movements. As Rex approaches, Kenobi shifts his stance without breaking the flow of conversation, automatically making space at his side for Rex to slot into place.

On the other side of the holotable, Cody throws one last glance at Rex, and then flicks his eyes significantly towards General Kenobi. “It’s him I’m worried about, not you,” Cody murmurs, his lips barely twitching. “Did you two talk at all last night? How’s he taking it?”

Rex has his first moment of unsteadiness for the day as his hearing tries to compensate for the disparity in volume, simultaneously tracking Cody’s subvocal words and the conversation happening at standard volume right next to them. Needing a touchstone, Rex reaches out with his ungloved hand, going for the bare skin of Kenobi’s wrist - and Kenobi shifts to meet him halfway, quickly tugging off his gauntlet and clasping their hands together.

“Alright?” Kenobi asks quietly, glancing at Rex and waiting for him to nod before he resumes his conversation with Admiral Yularen.

Kenobi’s hand is warm. Rex feels the pulse of blood flowing beneath the skin, the minute flex of his muscles as their fingers intertwine, the rub of callouses on Kenobi’s palm and fingers. One of his knuckles is a bit bumpier than the others, probably broken and not healed exactly right. Sound oscillates in Rex’s head, going from fuzzy to balanced to individual words jumping out at him from across the bridge. He rubs his thumb over the back of Kenobi’s hand and sinks into the sensation of it, feeling the silk of fine hairs under this fingertips. Everything else goes quiet and still.

A bubble rises to the surface of a still pool of water, gently popping, and Rex wakes up. He automatically takes a deep breath, blinking as everything comes back into focus. Kenobi is still talking with Yularen, not looking at him - they’re still reviewing the last location of Grievous. Rex can’t have been out for more than a few seconds. Cody frowns at him, lifting one eyebrow.

“We’re good,” Rex murmurs to Cody. He squeezes Kenobi’s hand in wordless thanks and then lets go, focusing on the discussion. It’s time to get back to work.

~

Obi-Wan is honestly grateful when Rex asks to go with Cody on a series of outpost inspections, jumping from system to system to check the monitoring stations around Kamino. It's a good first attempt to separate - not quite a controlled environment, but even if something goes wrong at one of the outposts, the all-Sentinel ground teams stationed at each location should be enough backup for Rex and Cody to handle anything short of Grievous himself. And if Grievous does show up, they can always call for help from the outpost.

It’s not like they’re completely disconnected, either. With help from the comms specialists (and a little extra support from Anakin), Obi-Wan now has a direct connection to the comm frequency in Rex’s helmet. The signal can bounce through the shuttle’s onboard comms, or the comm system of each outpost, connecting Rex directly to Obi-Wan on the flagship of the 7th Sky Corps. On top of that, their empathic connection means Obi-Wan can keep track of the emotional state of his Sentinel through the Force.

It'll be fine. Rex can take care of himself; this is just going to prove it so he can rejoin the 501st Legion with no hesitation.

And maybe Obi-Wan can relax from the high-strung state he's been in for the past two and a half days.

Or not. Hyperspace travel makes their empathic link grow faint, almost non-existent, which causes an entirely new kind of tension as Obi-Wan finds himself constantly reaching down that corridor in his mind. The link isn’t yet three days old, and he worries at it like a loose tooth, poking at its weak points and hoping it won’t break apart. Separated by a distance of light-years, all Obi-Wan can sense is a general assurance of Rex’s continued well-being, and the barest edges of his emotions.

After a few minutes, Obi-Wan forcibly puts the connection to the back of his mind. He quickly gets caught up in his duties: battle preparations if they have to come in hot on Kamino, hashing out possible hiding places for Grievous, and debating what potential planets the droid general might target next. The empathic link with Rex - and the accompanying complications to his personal life - fade from his immediate attention.

That doesn't mean he doesn't notice when an echo of shock and adrenaline reverberates from that part of his mind. Rex doesn’t seem to be in pain, and the all-clear beacon at their next scheduled stop is still active, so it can’t be anything too terrible. When they can’t raise Cody and Rex on comms, Obi-Wan is undeniably worried, but there’s nothing he can do about it now, except trust that the two clones can handle themselves.

Still. When Anakin assigns the communications officer to continuously monitor signal traffic from the Rishi Moon Station, Obi-Wan adds his authorization to the order. The moment they hear something, he wants to know about it.


End file.
